Paris Flood Prevention Spillway | Margot Krasojevic

As there are frequently torrential rain that floods Paris’ River Seine, which closes parts of the city’s normal pace of life, Margot Krasojevic designed a pavilion bar as part of Paris flood control infrastructure. This design was inspired by Paris’ intricate and detailed manhole covers that can be found in the city.

Courtesy of Margot Krasojevic

The pavilion bar is an enclosed circular glass bar that sits over a bell-mouth spillway, which is where it allows water to enter from its whole perimeter. It then directs the water throughout the design into the spillway that is designed to be under a moveable glass clad floor.

Courtesy of Margot Krasojevic

The essential function of the bar has been pared with an ethereal monocoque shell, which is a structure that supports loads through an object’s skin, that stores the light and reflective nature of the pavilion bar’s interior. The etched glass produces an effervescent feeling as the lattice spillway filtering water is being channeled through the underground network of semi-hidden canals which leads to the upstream lakes and nearby reservoirs.

Courtesy of Margot Krasojevic

The lightweight composite fiber monocoque canopy that covers the pavilion creates a form similar to the whirlpool in which channels rainwater around its surface and into the spillway underneath it.